I was about to say that the Clinton campaign was reaching when they tried to defuse the Penn issue by pointing out that one of the co-chairs of Obama’s campaign “writes editorials in favor of the Colombia free trade agreement.” That co-chair is former South Dakota Sen. Tom Daschle, and the op-ed is here, and it is worth noting that Daschle did lay out a few conditions for approval of the trade deal.

But look who showed up on Fox News Sunday a week ago to tout Obama and take a few swings at Hillary over Penn and his work for Colombia?

DASCHLE: Well, Chris, of course, you can distort what Senator Obama said, and that’s really what we’re hearing again this morning. That isn’t what Senator Obama said. What Senator Obama said is that faith and guns are very important. He has talked about that for the entire campaign. He has spoken specifically to his own faith and how important it is to him. He understands that. But what he’s saying is that there are those who use these issues as very, very divisive issues to try to disenfranchise further the people that are susceptible to that.
I can see why Mayor Nutter would change the subject on Colombia. People don’t like to be misled. They don’t like it when they’re not told the truth. I mean, the fact is that Hillary Clinton has a questionable record with regard to Colombia. Her own top adviser, Mark Penn, was fired recently for advocating for Colombia. So you’ve got her adviser advocating for Colombia, Hillary Clinton saying that she supports the effort not to pass the Colombian free trade agreement.
I think the people of Pennsylvania, the people of the country, really deserve a better explanation than the one we’ve gotten.

Daschle’s got every right to support the trade deal, and there’s no reason to think Obama takes his marching orders from Daschle. But doesn’t he feel the least bit silly hitting Hillary for not insufficiently opposing a trade deal that he’s on record as generally supporting? In the eyes of the protectionists, doesn’t he himself have “a questionable record with regard to Colombia”? Does he really think Penn’s “advocacy for Colombia” ought to be a firing offense, and if so, what’s he still doing on Team Obama?